Stile: Sweeney's stance on gun magazine limits is altered by politics

By Charles Stile

The Record

It was billed as a brave milestone in the political evolution of Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney.

The burly ironworker, who represents a semirural South Jersey district where hunting is popular and Second Amendment rights are venerated, was now switching from powerful foe to fierce advocate of reducing the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds rather than the 15 allowed under state law.

“I gotta tell you, when you meet families that have lost their loved ones, it’s pretty hard to explain why you can’t do a simple thing like this,” Sweeney said at a Feb. 24 news conference, his eyes welling with tears as family members of children murdered by a lone gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., stood nearby.

Yet there was nothing simple about Sweeney’s announcement, and to the Sandy Hook family members and gun control advocates, nothing all that surprising. In April, when Sweeney publicly declared his opposition to the lower capacity limit — dooming any chance of passage in the Senate — he privately endorsed the idea in a meeting with the families and gun control advocates.

“He said it was a good idea and at the appropriate time he would introduce it and now he has,” said Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was among the 26 victims at Sandy Hook.

Now, it seems the appropriate time has come — for Sweeney’s political career.

Freed from having to worry about antagonizing gun rights groups after winning reelection in November in what was likely his last legislative race, Sweeney announced his support when it was safe. And given his ambitions of running for governor in a pro-gun-control state, the switch was a pragmatic pivot to the left.

Although the race is still three years away, Sweeney could face a Democratic primary fight against Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who imposed strict and novel bidding restrictions for gun manufacturers seeking city police contracts. Also in the wings are Assembly Minority Leader Lou Greenwald of Cherry Hill and Assemblyman John Wisniewski of Middlesex, who have solid gun control résumés.

But for some gun control supporters — who believe the smaller capacity magazines will discourage deranged gunmen from going on murderous rampages and reduce the number of victims when they do — Sweeney’s switch may have come too late.

Some supporters felt that Governor Christie, a Republican, could have been pressured into signing the magazine limit last year as he sought to run up a blowout reelection victory in a moderate, pro-gun control state. Now, with Christie’s reelection behind him and with his eyes set on appealing to Republican primary voters for a 2016 presidential bid, the pressure is off, the opportunity lost.

A spokesman for Sweeney declined to comment on the details of last year’s meetings with Sandy Hook families, but said the Feb. 24 announcement was the culmination of an “ongoing dialogue that began last spring.”

Gun rights supporter

Sweeney, who stresses that he’s a supporter of Second Amendment rights to bear arms, also dismissed suggestions that his announcement was driven more by political calculation rather than conscience. His staff noted that Sweeney and Senate Democrats championed a sweeping package of gun control measures that angered gun rights groups, such as a new system for electronic background checks and a ban on .50-caliber rifles.

“The Senate president has never shied away from taking on the gun lobby on issues of gun violence prevention,” said Chris Donnelly, Sweeney’s spokesman.

Four months after the Newtown shootings, Sweeney and other top Senate Democrats cobbled together their own legislative package to reduce gun violence. In addition to the background checks, their bill called for encoding firearm permits on a driver’s license and immediate revocation of gun permits at criminal sentencing, and required new safety training standards before obtaining a permit.

But they did not include the 10-round magazine proposal, frustrating some Assembly Democrats, who had made that measure a key feature of their own sweeping legislative package.

Sweeney, running for reelection in a competitive district, faced a political dilemma.

While pro-gun groups were unhappy with his gun-related bills — he earned an F grade from the Association of Rifle and Pistol Clubs of New Jersey — many of Sweeney’s bills were viewed as relatively “innocuous,” said Frank Fiamingo of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society.

Not so with the magazine limit, which almost certainly would have ignited a fierce backlash. Gun rights groups viewed it as an effective ban on certain guns, namely .22-caliber rifles with built-in magazines equipped to handle 15 rounds.

“The magazine ban was a third rail issue for gun owners,” said Scott Bach, executive director of the rifle and pistol association.

Sweeney would go on to win a comfortable yet expensive victory. And since his recent declaration of support for the magazine limit, the gun groups have unleashed their anger, blasting him on blogs, Twitter and through a recall movement.

Those groups are now serving as a useful foil, allowing Sweeney to appear as a warrior for “common sense” gun control — a valuable moniker to have in what might be a crowded Democratic primary.

“If AmmoLand is rallying the followers on Twitter, I know we must be doing the right thing,” Sweeney wrote in a Twitter spat with gun enthusiasts.

Sweeney’s support among gun control groups remains solid, despite his balking at the magazine limit last year.

Advocates are now hopeful that Christie, wounded by the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal, will be amenable as he tries to shore up his standing among Jersey voters.

They also believe that Christie has nothing to lose by signing the bill — right-wing voters who stock presidential primaries already believe Christie is too moderate on guns.

But that seems like a long shot, at best.

Christie continues to court the party’s right wing base as he demonstrated at speech last week to the Conservative Political Action Conference. And while he’s taken more centrist positions on guns — he signed a number of minor gun-related bills — he still vetoed the .50-caliber gun ban and Sweeney’s background check legislation, blasting it as an “entirely unworkable system of firearms regulation.”

In other words, Christie was careful not to go too far and anger pro-gun groups. Sweeney followed the same strategy last year — as he evolved.

New Jersey state Senate President Steve Sweeney

Frank Fiamingo, president of the NJ Second Amendment Society, holding a 15-round magazine that Senate President Stephen Sweeney now favors outlawing.

Stile: Sweeney's stance on gun magazine limits is altered by politics

It was billed as a brave milestone in the political evolution of Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney.

The burly ironworker, who represents a semirural South Jersey district where hunting is popular and Second Amendment rights are venerated, was now switching from powerful foe to fierce advocate of reducing the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds rather than the 15 allowed under state law.

“I gotta tell you, when you meet families that have lost their loved ones, it’s pretty hard to explain why you can’t do a simple thing like this,” Sweeney said at a Feb. 24 news conference, his eyes welling with tears as family members of children murdered by a lone gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., stood nearby.

Yet there was nothing simple about Sweeney’s announcement, and to the Sandy Hook family members and gun control advocates, nothing all that surprising. In April, when Sweeney publicly declared his opposition to the lower capacity limit — dooming any chance of passage in the Senate — he privately endorsed the idea in a meeting with the families and gun control advocates.

“He said it was a good idea and at the appropriate time he would introduce it and now he has,” said Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was among the 26 victims at Sandy Hook.

Now, it seems the appropriate time has come — for Sweeney’s political career.

Freed from having to worry about antagonizing gun rights groups after winning reelection in November in what was likely his last legislative race, Sweeney announced his support when it was safe. And given his ambitions of running for governor in a pro-gun-control state, the switch was a pragmatic pivot to the left.

Although the race is still three years away, Sweeney could face a Democratic primary fight against Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who imposed strict and novel bidding restrictions for gun manufacturers seeking city police contracts. Also in the wings are Assembly Minority Leader Lou Greenwald of Cherry Hill and Assemblyman John Wisniewski of Middlesex, who have solid gun control résumés.

But for some gun control supporters — who believe the smaller capacity magazines will discourage deranged gunmen from going on murderous rampages and reduce the number of victims when they do — Sweeney’s switch may have come too late.

Some supporters felt that Governor Christie, a Republican, could have been pressured into signing the magazine limit last year as he sought to run up a blowout reelection victory in a moderate, pro-gun control state. Now, with Christie’s reelection behind him and with his eyes set on appealing to Republican primary voters for a 2016 presidential bid, the pressure is off, the opportunity lost.

A spokesman for Sweeney declined to comment on the details of last year’s meetings with Sandy Hook families, but said the Feb. 24 announcement was the culmination of an “ongoing dialogue that began last spring.”

Gun rights supporter

Sweeney, who stresses that he’s a supporter of Second Amendment rights to bear arms, also dismissed suggestions that his announcement was driven more by political calculation rather than conscience. His staff noted that Sweeney and Senate Democrats championed a sweeping package of gun control measures that angered gun rights groups, such as a new system for electronic background checks and a ban on .50-caliber rifles.

“The Senate president has never shied away from taking on the gun lobby on issues of gun violence prevention,” said Chris Donnelly, Sweeney’s spokesman.

Four months after the Newtown shootings, Sweeney and other top Senate Democrats cobbled together their own legislative package to reduce gun violence. In addition to the background checks, their bill called for encoding firearm permits on a driver’s license and immediate revocation of gun permits at criminal sentencing, and required new safety training standards before obtaining a permit.

But they did not include the 10-round magazine proposal, frustrating some Assembly Democrats, who had made that measure a key feature of their own sweeping legislative package.

Sweeney, running for reelection in a competitive district, faced a political dilemma.

While pro-gun groups were unhappy with his gun-related bills — he earned an F grade from the Association of Rifle and Pistol Clubs of New Jersey — many of Sweeney’s bills were viewed as relatively “innocuous,” said Frank Fiamingo of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society.

Not so with the magazine limit, which almost certainly would have ignited a fierce backlash. Gun rights groups viewed it as an effective ban on certain guns, namely .22-caliber rifles with built-in magazines equipped to handle 15 rounds.

“The magazine ban was a third rail issue for gun owners,” said Scott Bach, executive director of the rifle and pistol association.

Sweeney would go on to win a comfortable yet expensive victory. And since his recent declaration of support for the magazine limit, the gun groups have unleashed their anger, blasting him on blogs, Twitter and through a recall movement.

Those groups are now serving as a useful foil, allowing Sweeney to appear as a warrior for “common sense” gun control — a valuable moniker to have in what might be a crowded Democratic primary.

“If AmmoLand is rallying the followers on Twitter, I know we must be doing the right thing,” Sweeney wrote in a Twitter spat with gun enthusiasts.

Sweeney’s support among gun control groups remains solid, despite his balking at the magazine limit last year.

Advocates are now hopeful that Christie, wounded by the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal, will be amenable as he tries to shore up his standing among Jersey voters.

They also believe that Christie has nothing to lose by signing the bill — right-wing voters who stock presidential primaries already believe Christie is too moderate on guns.

But that seems like a long shot, at best.

Christie continues to court the party’s right wing base as he demonstrated at speech last week to the Conservative Political Action Conference. And while he’s taken more centrist positions on guns — he signed a number of minor gun-related bills — he still vetoed the .50-caliber gun ban and Sweeney’s background check legislation, blasting it as an “entirely unworkable system of firearms regulation.”

In other words, Christie was careful not to go too far and anger pro-gun groups. Sweeney followed the same strategy last year — as he evolved.